Bohemian Rhapsody trailer: Rami Malek sizzles as Freddy Mercury

Rami Malek, he of Mr. Robot fame, plays Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the upcoming biopic entitled Bohemian Rhapsody. The first trailer for the film, which was at one point going to star Sacha Baron Cohen instead, has now arrived on the web.

It’s an appropriately flamboyant trailer, which cuts quickly between iconic blasts of music, funny little character moments and all-too-brief glimpses of Malek in Mercury’s famous outfits. The opening of the trailer, which features one of Mercury’s most memorable pieces of crowd interaction, is bound to give Queen fans goosebumps…

The biggest challenge for this film, arguably, will be balancing the emotional elements of Mercury’s life with the outright joyousness of his music. The trailer plays up the lighthearted fun of Mercury, but his death at a young age will surely have to factor into the narrative eventually. Finding a way to tell that part of the story in a tasteful way, without detracting from the rest of the movie, can’t have been easy.

Bohemian Rhapsody was written by Anthony McCarten, with Peter Morgan contributing at the story stage. Bryan Singer of the X-Men franchise was initially attached as director, but he was replaced midway through production by Eddie The Eagle helmsman Dexter Fletcher. Here’s hoping that the finished film can be something really special, because Mr Mercury deserves no less.